


Change

by FiveAM



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 20:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveAM/pseuds/FiveAM
Summary: Beast Boy and Raven have changed a lot over the years, and Raven now wonders if Beast Boy ever truly got over Terra.





	Change

**Author's Note:**

> It's the one thing everyone knows would get in the way of a relationship between them, and that would be Terra. A nice little fic that's been on my mind for weeks now. I think it turned out well, though I can't speak for everyone. I hope everyone enjoys.

Does he love me more than he did Terra?

This was the question Raven had to ask herself at some point. She’s been dating Beast Boy for around seven months now, and really, she couldn’t be happier. They were both 18 now, and both have changed over the years. 

Beast Boy aged and matured very well over the years. Physically speaking, despite still being the scrawniest boy on the team, his muscles were much more toned now, and his shoulders were more broad. He grew as well, although he did so almost at pace with Raven, so they were basically the same height now. His hair was slightly longer, and so he started using hair gel to spike the front of his hair up. He also grew mentally as well. While still the group’s goofball, he no longer spat out jokes every two seconds, instead only wise-cracking when it was completely appropriate to do so. He became more organized, neater, and started taking an interest in learning new things. His room actually looked like a room now, and not like it was hit with a garbage bomb. The entire team was taken aback by how much better of a person Beast Boy became. He was still doing the things he did before: playing video games, listening to music, being arguably the happiest person on the team, but he was no longer obnoxious with it.

Raven, meanwhile, had a slightly subtler transformation. Not much changed with her physically, aside from growing slightly. The only noticeable thing she did was grow her hair out to be long. It was mentally where she changed the most. Still needing to meditate to control her powers, she had gained more control over her powers to the point where she could be more expressive with her emotions. It wasn’t uncommon to hear music coming from her room, or for her to invest herself in conversations that didn’t involve anything depressing. Even her voice sounded lighter and more expressive, and it wasn’t unlike her to say a sarcastic remark in different accents. These weren’t done on a regular basis, but she was still showing herself off to the others more than in years past.

Both also went through wardrobe changes. Raven kept the cloak she had, as well as the black leotard, because damn her if she was getting rid of what amounted to being her trademark look. Her change mainly came from the waste down, where she got rid of her old ruffled-neck boots and replaced them with designer-like black booties that rose up just passed her ankles. The boots had a harness on the outside and a zipper on the inside. She also now wore all-black stockings. She was starting to find that articles of clothing such as those were more comfortable to wear than she originally thought, and since she wanted to break out of her shell a little bit more, she decided to embrace a more feminine look as a result.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, still had a uniform. This time around, however, it was white with purple accents along the sides. The sleeves were shorter, so it breathed better. He also replaced his shoes as well, with his purple and black shoes being replaced by white high tops.

Both of them had wanted to make these changes for a while. Beast Boy was starting to become unhappy with who he was, seeing himself as childish and lacking a sense of productivity the others seemed to have so much of. He still held on to his inner child; he just wanted to become a more respectable person in his own eyes, so he learned to discipline himself to make sure he never got too out of hand. 

Raven was the same way; she wanted to become more expressive and open around her teammates, and since she was able to get her powers in a more controlled state as time went on, she learned to open up more. She didn’t like the feeling of being the odd one out, and wanted to get herself more involved in what the others were doing. She still mainly stuck to reading and meditating, and preferred silence over sound, but she still made a point to enjoy herself with the others for a few minutes at a time.

In fact, their whole relationship started because of how much the two changed. Both of them took notice of the other and their changing habits. Raven appreciated how clean and considerate Beast Boy was becoming, and Beast Boy was receptive of how open and fun-loving Raven was becoming. It was during a private conversation between themselves one night when everyone else was doing other things that both admitted that part of the reason for the change was for the other’s sake. Beast Boy said so first, saying that Raven’s annoyance with him over the years made something click for him, and he started to get annoyed with himself for how much he tried to force jokes and how immature he was. Raven expressed similar sentiment, saying that it was because of Beast Boy’s persistence that she started to think about how disconnected she felt from the group as a whole, and started to make efforts to become more social.

Feelings for the other had lingered for a while, but it was during these periods of change that both of them started to fall hard for the other. When they talked, they both could tell how instrumental they were in making the other a better person. Beast Boy knew he wanted Raven to be his and his alone, and Raven felt the exact same way for Beast Boy. Still not one to know much about romance, all he asked Raven was just “Would you want to be my girlfriend?” in a tone that he tried to pass off as confident but couldn’t hide his obvious nervousness. Raven couldn’t have cared less, though. Beast Boy asked her out, and that’s all she cared about.

He was a great boyfriend, willing to cook non-vegetarian foods for her, taking her to quieter parts of town for date nights, and occasionally bought her the odd gift every now and then, be it a small box of herbs for her to enjoy some tea, or a book she might enjoy. She even thought of herself as a good girlfriend, learning to cook vegetarian dishes she thought both of them would enjoy (actually, learning to cook at all was a milestone for her), allowing him to enter her personal space more than anyone else, and also bought him a gift once in a while, be it a new video game or some food from his favorite restaurant. It was all going so well, so why did it start eating at her that he might not have truly gotten over Terra?

She had to be fair to Beast Boy; the process of getting over a first love is a painful one, and that is exactly what Terra was to him. Raven could tell when Terra was with them that Beast Boy was head over heels for her, that he would give anything to be with her. If requested, he would have gladly laid down his life just for the sake of Terra. 

Then Slade happened, and she betrayed everyone only to save the entire city from her mistake, at the cost of turning to stone. Somehow, though, she came back, or at least someone who looked like her, and Beast Boy had to let her go to live her own life the way she wanted to live it. Even through all through this, Beast Boy was never destroyed by any of it. He always found a way to move on, and in the last case, he absolutely had to, for both his sake and the girl’s. Raven always wondered if Terra was the only girl Beast Boy would ever love, and the last thing she wanted to feel now was the idea that she was just a consolation prize and was never meant to be with him in the first place.

The whole team was on their way back from Tamaran following a getaway orchestrated by Starfire and (now) Nightwing. They wanted to celebrate their anniversary, and this time, they decided to celebrate it on Tamaran, along with the rest of the team. They took their time getting back to earth, as Cyborg had recently built a much larger, luxurious, and feature-rich T-ship. It only required one pilot (and even then, autopilot was turned on most of the time), had a small bedroom for each of the five of them, and (to avoid the haste of last time) a bathroom. They decided to use these luxuries to spend a night out in space.

Where they lived on earth, it would have been about 9:00 PM. Cyborg turned in early because he needed to wake up early due to the possibility of a meteor shower at the location the autopilot was set to take them to, and Nightwing and Starfire were busy doing…”stuff” in Nightwing’s room. Raven was doing her usual thing of meditating in her room, mainly doing so to try and calm her mind from thinking about Beast Boy and Terra. When she finished, she figured she wouldn’t fall asleep for at least another hour, so she went back into the ship’s common area to read and watch the stars.

She got there only to see Beast Boy there as well. The side of the ship was covered in glass so a good view of the stars and planets was always possible. Their were chairs set up right next to the window too. Beast Boy was sitting in one watching the stars slowly pass by, half-asleep. He heard the door open and could smell that it was Raven. She walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Mind if I sit with you?”

“Go right ahead.”

Because both of them were skinny, she was able to easily slot in next to him. She crossed one leg over the other and snuggled up to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, while he put his arm over her. It was moments like this that made her forget everything negative she ever thought about him, and simply wished to stay like this with him forever. She knew she would eventually have to ask him about Terra, though, and since tonight was one where she was plagued with thoughts of her, now was going to have to be the best time.

“Beast Boy?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever still think about Terra?”

A shocking question for Beast Boy to hear, but he still kept composure at hearing it. He knew someone was going to ask that question one day. Taking a deep breath, he answered “Sometimes.”

Not the answer Raven was hoping for, although him saying “no” was probably unrealistic in the first place.

He continued “I won’t lie to you, sometimes thoughts of her sneak in, if only for a brief moment, though.”

“You liked her a lot, didn’t you?”

“I did. She was the first woman to like me for me. That’s something I can never forget.”

Raven, at the very least, appreciated his honesty. She was happy he could tell her this stuff at face value rather than play coy or lie. It showed how much he trusted her.

“I'm sorry you lost her.”

“There's nothing to be sorry about, Rae. I'm happy it all happened, and I've been ready to move on from her for a while now.”

Raven knew that it was silly to think that he would forget about Terra. She wanted to feel like she was going to be the only girl he would ever love. She also knew, though, there was someone before her, someone he fell in love with first. It was the one thing Raven couldn't look passed in their relationship, the one thing she couldn't change. At hearing his answer, she lifted her head off of him and slouched over rather somberly.

When Beast Boy answered her questions, he sounded almost unaware of the fact that the person snuggled up to him was his girlfriend. He simply answered each of her questions honestly and didn't think much of it. It soon dawned on him, though, the reason she was asking these questions, and coupled with her somber look after he answered her, he immediately saw his error.

“Raven, I don't want you to think that you come second to her. For all the fun I had with her, she doesn't even come close to how I feel for you. It’s mostly because of you that I wanted to change for the better, and that isn’t something I can say for Terra.”

Raven looked up at him upon hearing this, her somber look replaced with surprise. She shouldn't have been, since this was her boyfriend, but hearing a statement like this was almost foreign to her. Sure, they had been dating for months, but whenever they spoke, it was either casual conversation, flirting, or compliments. A statement like this suggested pure love, and love was not something Raven was used to, and after Malchior, she wasn’t even sure if she was capable of loving anyone else.

What Beast Boy said next changed all of that.

Looking her right in the eyes, he said “Raven, if I had to choose between Terra and you, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose you every single time.”

At this, Raven gave him a passionate kiss that he happily returned. It lasted only a few seconds, but may have been the best kiss the two of them ever shared. It only took a few words, the most sincere and thoughtful words Raven had ever heard someone tell her, for her to understand that this boy (no, this man) was in love with her and that he was in it for the long-haul. She knew it wasn’t fake, as she made sure to never suffer another heartbreak like Malchior if she could help it, and the emotion she felt from Beast Boy were pure happiness and love. If he was lying, she might have sensed relief or guilt, or something else to indicate that he never truly meant what he said. It was all true, and all of it came from Beast Boy, the man she, at first, hated and thought of as immature, only to increasingly find comfort in, and finally, fall in love with.

Even Beast Boy was a little surprised about what he said and how true it was. Years ago, he thought he found the love of his life, only for her to betray everyone. She made up for it by saving their city, but at the cost of her turning to stone. She may have come back, but whoever this girl was, she didn’t want to be Terra. She wanted her own life, and as much as Beast Boy didn’t want to, he had to let her go. Then he started to notice Raven more, and how she changed, and he found out that she liked him and mostly changed thanks to him. They became better people and Beast Boy couldn’t ignore his feelings from that point on. He changed to be more respectable and professional thanks to her. He simply felt better about who he was.

Terra wouldn’t have done that. She would’ve indulged him, and he would’ve done everything to continue to make her laugh. There was no desire from her to see Beast Boy grow as a person, to make him happy with who he was. If she lived after saving the city, it would’ve been entirely possible that she never would’ve wanted him to change at all, to stay as the person that helped her see the good in her. Most importantly, though, was that he would never be able to fully trust her. She blew multiple chances with the team, and put them in multiple positions where they had to fight for their lives. None of it would have happened if she never agreed to go with Slade, and that is what bugged Beast Boy the most.

No one can say for sure, though, what would have happened had events not played out the way they did. So many things could have been different and so many different outcomes could have been possible. All Beast Boy and Raven knew, though, was that they were glad events played out the way they did, because they found true love and happiness in the other. Their desire to grow and mature and become more respectable stemmed from the other. They were willing to do things for each other, both committed 100% to the other. They both found love, and they didn’t want that love to die.

After the kiss, they shifted positions so that Raven was on Beast Boy’s lap and resting her head on his, her arms around his neck. Both of his arms were around her abdomen and he was resting his head on her chest. They were content to just sit their and hold each other, feeling the warmth from the other and watch the stars slowly pass by until both of them were tired enough to go to bed.

Both Raven and Beast Boy had managed something once thought impossible: they helped the other love again, and they wouldn’t change that for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for clicking and reading. I hope you all enjoyed and that everyone has a wonderful and blessed day.


End file.
